The Reading Challenge Group discussion

I have decided I have too many fingers in too many pies, and am losing track of my challenges! I think with one, easy to manage thread I will be able to have a more organised 2015...maybe ;)

Goal 1: Finish A Song of Ice and Fire series
A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust, George R. R. Martin
A Dance with Dragons: After the Feast, George R. R. Martin

COMPLETED 14/12/15

Goal 2: Finish 2014 Challenges

a) Top 20 most influential books by women

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Harry Potter Boxset, J. K. Rowling
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte **Potential re-read**
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott **Potential re-read**
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger **Potential re-read**
Middlemarch, George Eliot
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing
The Color Purple, Alice Walker
The Women's Room, Marilyn French

b) Book Bingo

B1: Exploration - Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe ABANDONED Trainspotting READ: 21/08/14
B2: Congratulations! - The Historian: READ 28/11/14
B3: Participation - The Neverending Story READ: 06/01/15
B4: Information - Victorian Pharmacy: Rediscovering Home Remedies and Recipes
B5: Collaboration - The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

I1: Listed it - Frankenstein READ: 18/09/14
I2: Bought it - A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold READ: 11/08/14
I3: Eyed it - A Creed for the Third Millennium READ: 25/07/14
I4: Downloaded it - The Woodcutter
I5: Scored it! - Anthem READ: 12/08/14

N1: Oldie but goodie - The Metamorphosis READ: 31/07/14
N2: New kid on the block - The Invention of Wings
N3: FREE - The Gathering of The U'Narai
N4: Yesterday's news - The Ocean at the End of the Lane
N5: Everybody's talking -

G1: Nice to meet you - Dracula READ: 08/11/14
G2: You seem familiar -
G3: One of the girls - Parable of the Talents READ: 15/06/14
G4: One of the guys - The Jungle Book READ: 14/07/14
G5: Old friends - Gillespie and I

O1: Take a stand - The Clerkenwell Tales READ: 15/0/14
O2: Take a friend - A Feast for Crows READ: 06/10/14
O3: Take a trip - The Art of Fielding
O4: Take a look - The Snow Child
O5: Take a break - I Capture the Castle

ABANDONED 16/12/15 (It's now nearly 2016 and I can't even remember what the categories meant!)

c) I'd Like to Buy a Vowel

No As - The Duchess, Amanda Foreman
No Es - Carmilla, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
No Is - Brave Old World, Tom Hodgkinson
No Os - Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, Dubravka Ugresic
No Us - The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
No Ys - Sons and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence

COMPLETED: 11/02/15

d) TBR Pile

1. Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe ABANDONED
2. A Creed for the Third Millennium
3. Dracula
4. The Historian
5. The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud
6. Frankenstein
7. Gillespie and I, Jane Harris
8. The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach
9. The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey
10. Never Far From Nowhere
11. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
12. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith

Goal 3: Finish 'Fiction of Relationship' reading list

Manon Lescaut, Antoine Francois Prevost
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Bartleby and Benito Cereno, Herman Melville
The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
Light in August, William Faulkner
Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges
The Ice Palace, Tarjei Vesaas
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Disgrace, J. M. Coetzee

Goal 4: Finish A-Z Library Challenge

A- Life on Earth, Sir David Attenborough
B- Little Black Book of Stories, A S Byatt
C- The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, Angela Carter
D- The Palace of Illusions, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
E- A Good and Happy Child, Justin Evans
F- Then We Came to the End, Joshua Ferris
G- The Ice People, Maggie Gee
H- The Boy Who Taught the Beekeeper to Read: and Other Stories, Susan Harris
I- Goodbye to Berlin, Christopher Isherwood
J- My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time, Liz Jensen
K- The Genius, Jesse Kellerman
L- Shadowmagic, John Lenahan
M- Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell

2013:

N- Vurt, Jeff Noon
O- Foreign Bodies, Cynthia Ozick
P- The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl
Q- The Streets, Anthony Quinn

2014:

R- Anthem, Ayn Rand
S- The Three Weissmanns of Westport, by Cathleen Schine
T- Hodd, by Adam Thorpe

2015

U- Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, by Dubravka Ugresic
V- The Lie Of The Land: An Under The Field Guide To The British Landscape, by Ian Vince
W- The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones, by Jack Wolf

X-

Y-

Z-

Goal 5: Read one book per month for the Genre Challenge

January:
G- Historical Fiction - Mask of the Verdoy: A George Harley Mystery
NF- History - Becoming Queen
W- South American Lit - Chronicle of a Death Foretold
C- A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

February:
G- Romance & Chick-Lit - The Senator's Wife
NF- Sociology/Relationships/Family - Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
W- Middle Eastern Lit - The Kite Runner
C- Pride and Prejudice

March:
G- Contemporary and Literary Merit - Never Far From Nowhere
NF- Autobiography/Memoir - Gnarr: How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World
W- Sub-Saharan African Lit - Noah's Ark
C- Tess of the D'Urbervilles

April:
G- Poetry and Plays - The Tempest
NF- Arts/Hobby/Skill related - On Writing, Stephen King
W- Southeast Asian Lit - The Glass Palace
C- Great Expectations

May:
G- Fantasy - A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust
NF- Health/Wellness/Self-Improvement
W- Central America/Mexico & Caribbean Lit - Like Water for Chocolate
C- Vanity Fair

June:
G- Minority Studies/LGBT
NF- Biography
W- Western European Lit
C-
July:
G- Manga/Graphic Novels &/OR Humor
NF - Nature/Animals
W- North African Lit
C-
August:
G- Mysteries (Crime/Cozy/Espionage)
NF - True story/True crime/Current Events
W- Lit of South Asia/Indian sub-continent
C-
September:
G- Science-Fiction (including Dystopian)
NF- Science/Math/Technology
W- North American Lit
C-
October:
G- Horror/Thriller &/OR Short Story Collections
NF- Psychology
W- Eastern European Lit
C-
November:
G- Adventure &/OR Travel
NF - Travel/Food/Essays
W- Oceania/Australian Lit
C-
December:
G- Children's Lit &/OR Traditional Lit
NF - Religion/Spirituality/Philosophy
W- East Asian Lit
C-

52 Books in 52 Weeks

1. McFly: Unsaid Things . . . Our Story, McFly
2. The Neverending Story, Michael Ende
3. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
4. Mask of the Verdoy: A George Harley Mystery, Phil Lecomber
5. Becoming Queen, Kate Williams
6. Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
7. Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, Dubravka Ugresic
8. It Starts with Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways, Dallas and Melissa Hartwig
9. The Senator's Wife, Sue Miller
10. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
11. The Collector, John Fowles
12. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
13. SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes And Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
14. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
15. The Miniaturist, Jessie Burton
16. Five Weeks in a Balloon, Jules Verne
17. Never Far From Nowhere, Andrea Levy
18. Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
19. Gnarr: How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World, Jon Gnarr
20. The Magus, John Fowles
21. The Chalk Circle Man, Fred Vargas
22. Extinction Point, Paul Antony Jones
23. Seeking Whom He May Devour, Fred Vargas
24. Noah's Ark, Barbara Trapido
25. The Lie Of The Land: An Under The Field Guide To The British Landscape, Ian Vince
26. The Tempest, William Shakespeare
27. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
28. Carrie, Stephen King
29. The Glass Palace, Amitav Ghosh
30. Bedlam: London and its Mad, Catharine Arnold
31. Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
32. Old Wives' Lore: A Book of Old-Fashioned Tips and Remedies, Polly Bloom
33. Lady Audley's Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon
34. The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
35. The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones, Jack Wolf
36. Behindlings, Nicola Barker
37. Peyton Place, Grace Metalious
38. Wide Open, Nicola Barker
39. A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust, George R.R. Martin
40. Darkmans, Nicola Barker
41. Salem's Lot, Stephen King
42. The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan
43. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
44. You, Joanna Briscoe
45. The Veldt, Ray Bradbury
46. Incarnate, Ramsey Campbell
47. The Bad Seed, William March
48. A Dance with Dragons: After the Feast, George R. R. Martin
49. Mr Darwin's Gardener, Kristina Carlson
50. The Purveyor of Enchantment, Marika Cobbold

Really pleased that I have finally read Becoming Queen (read #5), as I've had this on my shelf for years and years. I also enjoyed it as much as I thought I would; I really do love reading about Regency / Georgian / Victorian Britain!

Now onto my South American read...

Adding a couple more challenges I (ambitiously!) started up:

50 New Books Mini Challenge

[X] A book with more than 500 pages - The Magus
[X] A classic Romance - Pride and Prejudice
[X] A book that became a movie - The Kite Runner
[] A book published this year
[X] A book with a number in the title - It Starts with Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways
[] A book by someone under 30
[X] A book with nonhuman characters - The Neverending Story
[X] A funny book - Gnarr: How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World
[X] A book by a female author - The Miniaturist
[X] A mystery or thriller - The Chalk Circle Man
[X] A book with a one-word title - Carrie
[] A book of short stories
[X] A book set in a different country - Baba Yaga Laid an Egg
[X] A non-fiction book - Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
[X] A popular author's first book - The Collector
[X] A book from an author that you haven't read yet - Five Weeks in a Balloon
[X] A book a friend recommended - Mask of the Verdoy: A George Harley Mystery
[] A Pulitzer Prize winning book
[] A book based on a true story
[X] A book at the bottom of your to read list - Becoming Queen
[] A book your mom loves
[X] A book that scares you - Extinction Point
[X] A book more than 100 years old - Tess of the D'Urbervilles
[X] A book based entirely on its cover - The Lie Of The Land: An Under The Field Guide To The British Landscape
[] A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't
[] A memoir
[X] A book you can finish in a day - McFly: Unsaid Things . . . Our Story
[] A book with antonyms in the title
[X] A book set somewhere you always wanted to visit - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
[] A book that came out the year you were born
[X] A book with bad reviews - The Pilgrim's Progress
[X] A trilogy - Wide Open, Behindlings, Darkmans
[] A book from your childhood
[X] A book with a love triangle - The Senator's Wife
[] A book set in the future
[X] A book set in high school - Never Far From Nowhere
[] A book with a color in the title
[X] A book that made you cry - Life After Life
[] A book with magic
[] A graphic novel
[X] A book by an author you've never read before - Noah's Ark
[] A book you own but have never read
[] A book that takes place in your hometown
[X] A book that was originally written in a different language - Chronicle of a Death Foretold
[X] A book set during Christmas - Incarnate
[] A book written by an author with your same initials
[X] A play - The Tempest
[X] A banned book - Peyton Place
[X] A book based on or turned into a tv show - Great Expectations
[X] A book you started but never finished - The Adventures of Captain Hatteras

Great reads

Stephen King Marathon

1. Carrie, 29/06/15
2. Salem's Lot, 08/10/15

Sonya wrote: "Great reads"

Thanks Sonya!

What did you think of The Magus? It's one of those books I keep wondering if I want to try.

Brenda wrote: "What did you think of The Magus? It's one of those books I keep wondering if I want to try."

Hi Brenda!

It's quite an odd book. I really like John Fowles as an author so may be a bit biased, but I found it very compelling. Apparently it was unconsciously inspired by Great Expectations (which I can really appreciate), and a lot of the book has that confused, mysterious feeling captured at the start of the Dickens novel.

It's pretty long, though! If you fancy something meaty, I'd recommend :)

Thanks Lucy! I'm nudging it up my mental TBR list for when I'm ready for a challenging chunkster.